In an effort to avoid filing the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, officials in an Alabama county Friday flirted with a potential settlement with creditors but eventually decided to take a few more weeks to try to hammer out a better deal. Jefferson County, the state's most populous, is staggering under a $3.14-billion debt incurred after officials borrowed money to fix their troubled sewer system, and then entered into a number of complicated and corruption-laced refinancing deals that backfired in 2007 with the mortgage lending crisis.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. - Widespread flood recovery efforts continued Sunday in Colorado as hundreds of residents remained unaccounted for and the death toll - as well as the number of missing - continued to rise. Officials said there were at least 700 Coloradans still missing in Boulder and Larimer counties after the disaster, which has washed out bridges and roads and isolated several central Colorado communities. Gov. John Hickenlooper, appearing on CNN on Sunday morning, expressed hope that many of the missing are simply out of reach of communications, and have "already gotten out or [are]

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. - In a new book, the mother of one of the Columbine High School killers admitted that on that terrible morning, as she realized her son was involved, she prayed he would not emerge alive. “I had a sudden vision of what he might be doing. And so while every other mother in Littleton was praying that her child was safe, I had to pray that mine would die before he hurt anyone else,” Sue Klebold told author Andrew Solomon, whose book, “Far From The Tree,” explores the family life of atypical children, including those who commit crimes.

DENVER -- The rains began earlier this week in Colorado, accelerating far beyond the ground's ability to absorb moisture. Torrents churned into flash floods that have killed at least three people, washed out roads, isolated whole towns and forced schools, colleges and municipal offices to evacuate or close. Thursday was the fourth straight day of rain, and forecasts call for more precipitation in the coming days. Making things worse, more than seven inches of rain fell in just hours by Thursday morning, a volume that triggered flooding that left residents in the towns of Lyons and Jamestown cut off. Suburban Aurora received eight inches of rain in about six hours -- the equivalent of about half of the total precipitation that the Denver metropolitan area gets in an entire year.

A line of fierce storms struck north and central Alabama on Wednesday night, with authorities reporting at least eight deaths and scores injured as strong winds and baseball-sized hail battered the state. More than a dozen people were injured at Open Door Church in Birmingport, where church members sang hymns and prayed as the storm pounded the structure, according to witnesses. Birmingham-area hospitals reported more than 24 people being treated for injuries sustained in the storm.

For the better part of the last 150 years, this graceful Southern town of moss-draped live oak trees was known for its antebellum homes, antique shops and tranquillity. Until recently, the only real excitement the 3,000 residents could count on was the annual watermelon festival, which features a seed-spitting contest. And then little Monticello got a reputation.

A woman put her dead mother in the passenger seat of her car and drove her more than 1,000 miles from Colorado to an Oregon mortuary so she could be buried next to her husband. Janet Levine was trying to save money on the costs of shipping the body of 91-year-old Mildred Catherine Wooten, said Sgt. Mike Julian of the Jefferson County, Colo., sheriff's office.

A storm dumped up to a foot of rain over parts of northeast Kansas, sparking flash flooding that left people stranded in their homes and cars, emergency officials in Oskaloosa said. The hardest-hit areas were Jefferson and Jackson counties, said Joy Moser, spokeswoman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management. About a foot of rain fell overnight in Jefferson County, and up to 10 inches were reported in Jackson County.

Floodwaters surged down the Arkansas River on Monday, forcing more than 300 people to flee their homes and causing millions of dollars in damage to roads, bridges and buildings in what may be the worst flooding in Arkansas in 63 years. Some 327 homes have been evacuated in six Arkansas counties along the Arkansas River. Emergency workers said 182 homes were evacuated in Jefferson County and predicted an additional 200 evacuations before the flooding ends.

Cassie Bernall, hailed as a martyr in the Columbine High School massacre for professing her belief in God before she was shot dead, may never have had such an exchange with her killer, officials in Jefferson County, Colo., said. The story of the 17-year-old, one of the 13 people killed when two teenage gunmen stormed the Littleton, Colo.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. - In a new book, the mother of one of the Columbine High School killers admitted that on that terrible morning, as she realized her son was involved, she prayed he would not emerge alive. “I had a sudden vision of what he might be doing. And so while every other mother in Littleton was praying that her child was safe, I had to pray that mine would die before he hurt anyone else,” Sue Klebold told author Andrew Solomon, whose book, “Far From The Tree,” explores the family life of atypical children, including those who commit crimes.

For months, they labored to cut a deal with their creditors. But $4 billion is a deep hole to negotiate out of. And so, with a settlement seemingly out of reach, Jefferson County, Ala., relented this week, and now is tagged with a long-dreaded superlative: On Tuesday, it filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. "It just became one of those situations were we had to decide what we were going do," County Commissioner Joe Knight said. "Was this deal going to get done?

In an effort to avoid filing the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, officials in an Alabama county Friday flirted with a potential settlement with creditors but eventually decided to take a few more weeks to try to hammer out a better deal. Jefferson County, the state's most populous, is staggering under a $3.14-billion debt incurred after officials borrowed money to fix their troubled sewer system, and then entered into a number of complicated and corruption-laced refinancing deals that backfired in 2007 with the mortgage lending crisis.

The mayor of Birmingham, Ala., was indicted on federal charges of bribery, fraud and conspiracy Monday, part of a probe into a local financial crisis that has the surrounding county on the brink of one of the largest municipal bankruptcies in American history. The 101-count indictment focuses on Mayor Larry P. Langford's tenure as Jefferson County Commission president from 2002 to 2006.

After nearly 14 long and sometimes embarrassing years as the national torchbearer for municipal bankruptcy, Orange County may soon lose that distinction thanks to a financial disaster elsewhere that could dwarf its debacle. Jefferson County, Ala., was weighing its options this week in the wake of a looming bond crisis that recently forced it to skip a $53-million sewer bond payment -- sending the county's credit rating tumbling to the lowest junk status.

A storm dumped up to a foot of rain over parts of northeast Kansas, sparking flash flooding that left people stranded in their homes and cars, emergency officials in Oskaloosa said. The hardest-hit areas were Jefferson and Jackson counties, said Joy Moser, spokeswoman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management. About a foot of rain fell overnight in Jefferson County, and up to 10 inches were reported in Jackson County.

Two 12-year-old girls who disappeared a week ago while riding their bicycles on an isolated dirt road returned home here today saying they had been abducted by two men in a pickup truck and raped, officials said. Robert Chalker, a member of a team that had searched for the girls, said Jessica Barrow and Elizabeth Tanner walked up to the Barrow home at 7:30 a.m. The girls told authorities they had been abducted by two men who dropped them off in this small east Georgia town early today.

Thunderstorms blamed for one death struck the central Appalachians, felling trees and power lines. In Kentucky, about 5,000 to 10,000 customers lost power in Jefferson County, which includes Louisville. In Oklahoma, Osage County officials evacuated residents of Avant and Skiatook as Bird Creek overflowed its banks after seven inches of rain fell in 24 hours. Wet weekend weather also led to lowland flooding along the Rio Grande in Colorado and a flood watch was posted.

A staggering array of weapons, remnants of America's deadliest school shooting, were laid bare Thursday for the public to see. Hundreds of bullets, bloody scraps of carpet and sawed-off shotguns sat beneath harsh fluorescent lights at the county fairgrounds. The Jefferson County sheriff's office's unusual decision to display all the physical evidence in the Columbine massacre case was meant to quell lingering doubts about the investigation. But it ignited more.

"MISSISSIPPI in Africa" emerges from its deceptively simple outer garb as a powerful, unsettling and deeply engaging examination of America's past and its position in the contemporary world. The book begins modestly in the present day. Alan Huffman, a Mississippian and former reporter for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, wants to learn about Isaac Ross, a rich 19th century plantation owner in Jefferson County, Miss.